


This Was a Mistake

by notall2gether



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Green puts the Four Sword back, He kind of loses it afterwards, M/M, More angst, Tagged Major Character Death because the other Links may as well have died, yup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-07-30 00:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16275806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notall2gether/pseuds/notall2gether
Summary: An angsty little one-shot about what happens after Green returns the Four Sword.





	This Was a Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Why can I only write angst...?

I looked down at the sword in my hand, smiling bitterly. The Four Sword had given me some of the best friends I’d ever had; Blue, Red and Vio were closer than brothers to me.

It was a cruel twist of fate that they had to leave.

The Four Sword, Zelda explained, was designed to be returned to the sanctuary once the evil had been eradicated. If it wasn’t, more evil would continue being released into Hyrule until there was so much that even the Heroes couldn’t defeat it all.

I glared at the sky, cursing the Goddesses for their cruelty.

_ How could they? _

Tears were threatening to fall. In Red’s case, they already were. Even Shadow, standing on the sidelines, looked as if he was about to cry—after all, he was losing Vio.

I glanced at Blue, whom I knew was taking this the hardest. He didn’t even protest when Red hugged him, sobbing into his shoulder.

I closed his eyes, willing myself not to cry.

“Do it now,” Zelda advised. “If you wait much longer, you won’t be able to bring yourselves to do it.”

Blue glared at her. “We’ll do it,  _ Princess.  _ But we’ll do it when we’re ready, and not a moment sooner.”

Zelda flinched when Blue called her ‘Princess’. We’ve never called her that. Not until now.

I looked over at Vio, who was sending tortured glances at Shadow.

I sighed. “Vio, go talk to him. At least say goodbye.”

Vio threw a glance my way, then nodded and headed over to Shadow, where they started talking quietly, eventually hugging each other and not letting go.

I looked over at Red and Blue, watching as Blue struggled to comfort Red, looking for all the world as if he’d rather let Hyrule burn to the ground than merge back into Link.

And finally, I looked at Zelda, and was shocked to find that she had the nerve to look  _ impatient. _

I looked away when she glanced at me, glaring at the ground.

Eventually, Vio pulled himself away from Shadow and walked back over to the rest of us, not even sparing a glance for Zelda. When Blue noticed that we were waiting for him and Red, he took a deep shuddering breath, and gently pried Red off of him. Then, we slowly approached the pedestal where I’d had drawn the Four Sword from back when all of this craziness started.

The tears finally rolled down my face as we each raised our swords above the pedestal, preparing to drive the Four Sword back into the stone.

Blue and Red exchanged mournful glances, while Vio looked back at Shadow.

Me? I just squeezed my eyes shut. In another life, I might have looked to Zelda for reassurance, but I didn’t feel like I could trust her anymore. There had to be another way other than this. There had to be, but she wouldn’t let us find it.

The nature of the Four Sword was that a hero could only draw it once in his lifetime. If we did this, we would never be able to separate again. We would never see each other again. And for all that jargon that Zelda had tried to get us to believe, about how we’d all still exist, just in one body, we all knew that I was the main Link. We all knew that, even if what she said was true, that would be torture for all of us. And still she insisted that we put the sword back.

I couldn’t hold off any longer. I opened my eyes, and said, “It’s time.” My voice cracked.

And then, we drove our swords downward. And as the sword found purchase inside the stone pedestal once more, I could see Red, Blue, and Vio - some of my best friends in the world - fade from existence, never to exist again.

The anger hit me first, and suddenly I was shouting, screaming at the princess I had once called my friend. I couldn’t hear the words I was saying, not really, but from the way Zelda recoiled and the shocked look on Shadow’s face, I could tell that whatever I was saying, it was horrible, although in my opinion, it was well-deserved.

Sorrow hit me next, and I cut off mid-sentence and collapsed to the ground, sobbing like everyone I had ever cared about had just died right in front of me. In a way, that was true. I would never respect my father again after his harsh treatment of Shadow, and then of Vio when he learned of the nature of their relationship. After what Zelda had forced me to do, I could never be foolish enough to consider her a friend - or anything else - again. Shadow was the only one left, so I was relieved when I felt his arms extending around me, doing his best to comfort me as I tried to cope with the loss of almost everything I had ever loved.

Finally, I was filled with a sudden calm, and I stilled in Shadow’s arms and hugged him back, letting him cry for what he had lost.

When he was done, I stood up and helped him up, and we walked towards the entrance to the sanctuary.

As we reached the doorway, I heard the princess’s voice from behind me.

“Link-”

“My name isn’t Link.”

“What-”

I turned around and spat out, “Listen,  _ Princess,  _ you just forced me to give up three of my best friends in the entire world. Most of what I have to say to you has already been said, so let me just make this clear: We are NOT friends, let alone anything else. Don’t talk to me again.” I turned again, but just before I stepped out of the shrine, she spoke to me again.

“Link, please-”

“Go fuck yourself,” I snarled, then finally exited the sanctuary, leaving the best part of my life behind forever.

As I walked with Shadow back toward Castle Town, I reflected—on putting the Four Sword back, on letting myself ever fall for Princess Zelda, the  _ snake,  _ on believing there was even a slight chance that I could come out unscathed, on expecting my father and oldest friend to actually be decent people, and realized something about all of it.

“This was a mistake,” I whispered brokenly.

“What was?” Shadow asked.

“So, so many things,” I answered. “But especially listening to anything that Din-damned princess had to say.” My hands curled into fists, nails digging into my palms so hard that blood dropped out of crescent-shaped wounds in my hands. 

“If it weren’t for her,” I whispered, “We wouldn’t have lost three of the best people we’ve ever known—if it weren’t for her, Hyrule be damned, I would be  _ happy.  _ But no—I made the mistake of listening to her, and now—” I cut off midsentence.

Shadow wrapped his arms around me as I cried.

As I let the tears fall, one thought kept repeating I’m in my mind, over and over:

_ This was a mistake. _


End file.
